The
vi
command
ab
(
30.31
)
is for abbreviating words.
But it's also good for abbreviating
ex
-mode
commands that you type over and over.
In fact, for
ex
-mode commands (commands that start with a colon
(
:
)), abbreviations can be better than
keymaps (
31.2
)
.
That's because you can choose almost any command name; you don't have to worry
about conflicts with existing
vi
commands.

Here's an example.
If you have a windowing terminal or have more than one terminal,
you might have
vi
sessions running in more than one place.
Your system might have a way to transfer text between windows,
but it can be easier to use files in
/tmp
(
21.2
)
-
especially
for handling lots of
text.
Here are some abbreviations from my
.exrc
(
4.9
)
file: